Customize Apple Mac

[Tareq]

Can someone help me in Customizing Mac laptop, please?

Specifications:


2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
4GB 667 DDR2 - 2x2GB SO-DIMMs
SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)
Backlit Keyboard/Mac OS - U.S. EnglishThose are the main specific. i will fix, now what i am not sure about to choose are the following:

- Hard Drive: 160GB 5400 rpm
160GB 7200 rpm
250GB 4200 rpm

- Display:
17" Widescreen
17" Glossy Ws
17" High-Quality Ws
17" HQ Glossy Ws

Seems i will choose HQ screen, which one? and about the Hard drive, which one should i choose? and because i have an external Drives which i can connect with any computer should i think about more space for HD? any recommendations? and what is the difference between the two 160GB hard drive, only the speed?

[Glenn.B]

Tareq, i'm not a apple user at the moment, sony PC 15" screen.

but i'm on the verge of getting a macbook pro 17" still doing some research.

so here's my view...( but may be not correct )

main spec's are same as my choice

hard drive 160gb 7200rpm

17" matt screen...............not keen on HD screen, writing/print very small. and the glossy screen to reflective !

i will be interested to see what you decide on.

P/s i plan to get a 23" cinema screen to connect to at home.

[Permagrin]

I agree...the glossy screen's aren't the best for photo processing. We have two imac's and a powerbook and love the matte screens.

As to the hd's either will work. We've got the 250gig but the important thing for speed is the 4gb of RAM so you're fine whichever size hd you choose.

[Tareq]

Tareq, i'm not a apple user at the moment, sony PC 15" screen.

but i'm on the verge of getting a macbook pro 17" still doing some research.

so here's my view...( but may be not correct )

main spec's are same as my choice

hard drive 160gb 7200rpm

17" matt screen...............not keen on HD screen, writing/print very small. and the glossy screen to reflective !

i will be interested to see what you decide on.

P/s i plan to get a 23" cinema screen to connect to at home.

I will get that HQ widescreen [not glossy], because i agree that glossy is not good to view photos as matte.
I was going to buy only that 23" cinema screen but after long research i find that i need full Mac OS, so i will get MacBook Pro, and later i will add that cinema screen.

[Tareq]

I agree...the glossy screen's aren't the best for photo processing. We have two imac's and a powerbook and love the matte screens.

As to the hd's either will work. We've got the 250gig but the important thing for speed is the 4gb of RAM so you're fine whichever size hd you choose.

OK, i think i will not choose glossy as well.

About the hard drive yes, with this RAM i don't worry or care much how much is the drive speed, i work with slow PC and i don't complain much, so with fast -no doubt- HD on Mac i don't feel i need the fastest HD speed, and in addition i will not choose 250GB, or wait!!! if i will but one time only then no problem to add more space, but still i have my PCs with many external HDs [i got 2 new recently about 3 months ago, each is 0.5TB].

[primoz]

I would suggest you to stay away from 7200rpm disks in laptops. Way too much trouble, even though speed is much much better then with 5400 or even 4200rpm disks. Slow disks are one of things I still hate laptops compared to stationary machines. And for photos you still need fast disk. But unfortunately till now pretty much everyone I know, including myself, had nothing but problems with 7200rpm laptop disks.

[René Damkot]

One thing to note, is that unlike the 15-Inch "Santa Rosa" models, the 17-Inch system has a traditional CCFL backlit display rather than an LED-backlit display...

The 7200rpm HDD will be quite a bit faster then the 4200 rpm.
Have a read here (http://www.barefeats.com/5472.html)

[Tareq]

I would suggest you to stay away from 7200rpm disks in laptops. Way too much trouble, even though speed is much much better then with 5400 or even 4200rpm disks. Slow disks are one of things I still hate laptops compared to stationary machines. And for photos you still need fast disk. But unfortunately till now pretty much everyone I know, including myself, had nothing but problems with 7200rpm laptop disks.

I see.
And are you sure it was that 7200rpm or something else? How can you know the problem is from drive speed?

[Tareq]

One thing to note, is that unlike the 15-Inch "Santa Rosa" models, the 17-Inch system has a traditional CCFL backlit display rather than an LED-backlit display...

The 7200rpm HDD will be quite a bit faster then the 4200 rpm.
Have a read here (http://www.barefeats.com/5472.html)

I didn't understand that first issue.
Thank you for the link and information in point 2.

[René Damkot]

Click (http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/content_page.asp?cid=7-8741-9027)

[Tareq]

Click (http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/content_page.asp?cid=7-8741-9027)

Thank you very much
I need months to read all that, and another months to understand it.

[Glenn.B]

MMM'M.............. you guys have made me have a rethink.....:confused::confused::confused:

primoz, from what you say then i could save a bit of money going for 160gb 5400rpm. ....... what your thoughts on 250gb drive?

René , i thought both 15" screen and 17" screens were the same quality/build? are you suggesting a 15" probley better ( read rob galbraith article...head now spinning )

back to the research....

Tareq..........................best of luck !!!

[Tareq]

MMM'M.............. you guys have made me have a rethink.....:confused::confused::confused:

primoz, from what you say then i could save a bit of money going for 160gb 5400rpm. ....... what your thoughts on 250gb drive?

René , i thought both 15" screen and 17" screens were the same quality/build? are you suggesting a 15" probley better ( read rob galbraith article...head now spinning )

back to the research....

Tareq..........................best of luck !!!

Good luck to you too, Glenn

[primoz]

I didn't mean to say it was speed. I mean to say that 2.5" 7200rpm disks are problem. At least based on my experience. Difference between 7200rpm and 5400rpm disk is bigger then just crancked up motor spinning disk ;)

[primoz]

primoz, from what you say then i could save a bit of money going for 160gb 5400rpm. ....... what your thoughts on 250gb drive?
I would stick with 160gb drive. Faster drives are better, but based on my experiences, I'm not touching 7200rpm laptop drives for a while. Until now I had only one 5400rpm drive failure, and even for that one it was my fault, since dropping laptop from 1m when working really doesn't do good for disk :)
But on the end you will have to decide on your own. Is 160gb enough for you. For me it's more then enough for laptop, but that's me, and I doubt we use laptop same way :)

[Tareq]

I would stick with 160gb drive. Faster drives are better, but based on my experiences, I'm not touching 7200rpm laptop drives for a while. Until now I had only one 5400rpm drive failure, and even for that one it was my fault, since dropping laptop from 1m when working really doesn't do good for disk :)
But on the end you will have to decide on your own. Is 160gb enough for you. For me it's more then enough for laptop, but that's me, and I doubt we use laptop same way :)

In fact i was planning to stick with 160GB as for photos only it is more than enough, just i edit and save to another HD [external] or to DVDs/CDs, saving little than going for 7200, and i don't think i need that more faster if they both close in time for processing, few seconds or minutes will not make it harmful.

[Tareq]

Now between those two, which one you will choose?

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/502432-REG/Apple_Z0ED00052_Customized_17_MacBook_Pro.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/502430-REG/Apple_Z0ED00050_Customized_17_MacBook_Pro.html

and my question is: in both of those, are the monitor matte or glossy?

[SOT]

Being a laptop I would go with the larger drive. The only reason being is that a laptop is portable and even in the best cases toting around an external drive is a PITA most of the time.
If it were a desktop, I would do the opposite, get the smallest internal drives and load up on an external array or NAS for the network.

[Tareq]

Being a laptop I would go with the larger drive. The only reason being is that a laptop is portable and even in the best cases toting around an external drive is a PITA most of the time.
If it were a desktop, I would do the opposite, get the smallest internal drives and load up on an external array or NAS for the network.

I was thinking same way but i was not sure, thank you very much :D

[MDJAK]

I have two MacBook Pro 17" notebooks and both have the 7200 rpm hard drives. My former Think Pads also both had 7200 rpm hard drives. I've never had a problem with them. I highly recommend going with the fastest drive you can.

The only problems I've had with hard drives is when I went with 10,000 rpm models in a RAID array in a Dell XPS. Those burned out quickly.

Looks like you've got your setup just fine. Max out the RAM if you can afford it, go with the 160 gb 7200 drive, matte screen, and you'll love it. Then when you get the 23" screen, you'll have an extended desktop like I do and you'll love it even more.
mark

[Tareq]

I have two MacBook Pro 17" notebooks and both have the 7200 rpm hard drives. My former Think Pads also both had 7200 rpm hard drives. I've never had a problem with them. I highly recommend going with the fastest drive you can.

The only problems I've had with hard drives is when I went with 10,000 rpm models in a RAID array in a Dell XPS. Those burned out quickly.

Looks like you've got your setup just fine. Max out the RAM if you can afford it, go with the 160 gb 7200 drive, matte screen, and you'll love it. Then when you get the 23" screen, you'll have an extended desktop like I do and you'll love it even more.
mark

OH no, not again, now should i get 250gb or 7200rpm?
i will add 23" screen later, just first i have to get Mac and get used to it enough time then i will add whatever.
about the RAM i think 4 is available right now for both models i posted above.

[René Damkot]

i think 4 is available right now for both models i posted above.

Yes: Click (http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook_pro/stats/macbook-pro-core-2-duo-2.4-17-santa-rosa-specs.html)

[cosworth]

I would suggest you to stay away from 7200rpm disks in laptops. Way too much trouble, even though speed is much much better then with 5400 or even 4200rpm disks. Slow disks are one of things I still hate laptops compared to stationary machines. And for photos you still need fast disk. But unfortunately till now pretty much everyone I know, including myself, had nothing but problems with 7200rpm laptop disks.

I have 3 of them. All run perfectly fine. and my laptops have been outside the house many times, to places you should not take laptops. They are rugged and perform perfectly for me.

[Tareq]

Yes: Click (http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook_pro/stats/macbook-pro-core-2-duo-2.4-17-santa-rosa-specs.html)

so is this what you found?
What is the difference between this one and those on my 2 links?

[Tareq]

I have 3 of them. All run perfectly fine. and my laptops have been outside the house many times, to places you should not take laptops. They are rugged and perform perfectly for me.

Great, in this thread i will find who got plenty of Mac computers and they can give me their reviews as well.
I am gonna buy one right now not 5 or 10 anyway.

[Tony-S]

A 7200 rpm drive will suck your battery. Also, a 250 gig 5400 drive is faster than a 160 gig 7200 drive when you get to about 130-140 gigs of data. Of course, beyond 160 gigs it'll be a lot faster.

[MDJAK]

A 7200 rpm drive will suck your battery.

Care to back up that statement with some proof, please?
me

[Tareq]

A 7200 rpm drive will suck your battery. Also, a 250 gig 5400 drive is faster than a 160 gig 7200 drive when you get to about 130-140 gigs of data. Of course, beyond 160 gigs it'll be a lot faster.

Seems i am going to get 250gb, not so worry about how fast is 7200rpm over 5400 or 4200rpm, i am sure they all will be faster than my current drive speed on old pc, and i don't upload that much of photos at the time, only when i travel and come back with about 20-40GB still i don't need too fast.

[Trigeek]

Tareq,
Sounds like you are new to Apple products. I would strongly suggest that you visit the Apple discussion forums. Many very experienced apple folks that could give you very good advice. Here is the link:
http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=190

I just bought a MBP myself, and that forum really helped. For me, I bought a 15 inch MBP, since I wanted the smallest size for travel. Just a personal preference. Also, I bought the unit with 2GB of memory and upgraded to 4GB myself. Apple wants $700 for the upgrade, I paid $300. If you do this, stick with quality memory. Got mine from Crucial (crucial.com). This is one of the brands that Apple uses for OEM memory, and has a very high reputation.

As far as the 7200 RPM is concerned, I bought the 7200 RPM drive. I also have a 7200 RPM in another laptop and have had no problems. As with all hard drives, back up regularly. No drive speed is immune. I also use an external 7200 drive via the FW800 port. I would suggest searching the apple forum that I linked above regarding discussions on speeds and capacity's. I think it would be worth 30 min of your time.
One other thing to note is that Apple is probably going to release it's Leopard operating system by the end of this month. So... if you decide to wait till then, you will get the newer operating system. This can be a two edged sword. First, it will have the latest features. On the other hand, as with all new software, it may have bugs. I personally am waiting a few months to upgrade. Rumor on the street is that Oct 26 is the date... but only Apple knows the exact date.
Best of luck!

[BlackMacLabs]

I've got a 15" MacBook Pro, Intel Core Duo. It's a sleek, fast machine. I would recommend two things before buying:
1. Go to the Apple Discussion Forums for MacBook Pro and (search) ask your questions there
http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=190
2. Purchase "Apeture" It's a very good photo editor and easy to use if you are familiar with Macs.
Have fun!

[Tareq]

Care to back up that statement with some proof, please?
me

I would be interested in that too.

[Tareq]

Tareq,
Sounds like you are new to Apple products. I would strongly suggest that you visit the Apple discussion forums. Many very experienced apple folks that could give you very good advice. Here is the link:
http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=190

I just bought a MBP myself, and that forum really helped. For me, I bought a 15 inch MBP, since I wanted the smallest size for travel. Just a personal preference. Also, I bought the unit with 2GB of memory and upgraded to 4GB myself. Apple wants $700 for the upgrade, I paid $300. If you do this, stick with quality memory. Got mine from Crucial (crucial.com). This is one of the brands that Apple uses for OEM memory, and has a very high reputation.

As far as the 7200 RPM is concerned, I bought the 7200 RPM drive. I also have a 7200 RPM in another laptop and have had no problems. As with all hard drives, back up regularly. No drive speed is immune. I also use an external 7200 drive via the FW800 port. I would suggest searching the apple forum that I linked above regarding discussions on speeds and capacity's. I think it would be worth 30 min of your time.
One other thing to note is that Apple is probably going to release it's Leopard operating system by the end of this month. So... if you decide to wait till then, you will get the newer operating system. This can be a two edged sword. First, it will have the latest features. On the other hand, as with all new software, it may have bugs. I personally am waiting a few months to upgrade. Rumor on the street is that Oct 26 is the date... but only Apple knows the exact date.
Best of luck!

Yes, i am a new Mac user, so that i will try to get the best Apple laptop there in the market, i want to pay once, i can't buy something and keep pay for upgrading.
Many advised me to get Mac Pro [desktop] instead of notebooks, even i like desktop and it is more powerful than laptops but now i am just planning to get a laptop, not necessary for travel as i try not take many expensive things when i travel.
So i hope this link of forum you gave me people there will not changing my mind from laptops into desktops.

Thank you very much anyway:D

[Tareq]

I've got a 15" MacBook Pro, Intel Core Duo. It's a sleek, fast machine. I would recommend two things before buying:
1. Go to the Apple Discussion Forums for MacBook Pro and (search) ask your questions there
http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=190
2. Purchase "Apeture" It's a very good photo editor and easy to use if you are familiar with Macs.
Have fun!

OK, thank you very much
seems people here using all kinds of Mac computers and all happy with what they get and few unhappy due to some reasons, and with that all it is difficult to get answers from all satisfied people with many different products, and they all are correct and honest.

Now i was chatting with someone on the net and he told me to wait as new Mac OS will come soon [Leopard], so what now? check systems again? seems i will wait for 5 months just debating on what Apple computer i should get while many over there using whatever and keep using it or upgrading all the time too.
In fact i used that Mac in the photography club and amazed with its clarity and quality and i don't think it is the newest latest model, even it was fast with 2GB and 250gb 4200 ram, 7300 Nvidia, i never feel it is slow or getting better, but now i think this machine is not much good from all answers here.

[Tony-S]

Well, I stand corrected (http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=59053)...

[RichNY]

Tareq- Ultimately you are going to be happy with whatever Mac you purchase. I have a 24" iMac and a 17" Mac Book Pro both running Aperture.

Here's my take on this-
- Non glossy screen
- 7200 rpm drive (This is where your OS is running from, speed on this drive matters)
- Get Aperture
- Wait the 12 days for the new O/S. Unlike MS Apple's new releases have been stable, you'll save $129 and the time to install it yourself later. (Having to do a new O/S upgrade so soon is just too PC like for my taste)
- If you want to save money the suggestion of buying less pre-installed and upgrading it yourself is a good option.
-Get a .Mac account when you purchase your computer

Congrats- You are going to love your new platform.

[Tareq]

Well, I stand corrected (http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=59053)...

thank you very much :)

[Tareq]

Tareq- Ultimately you are going to be happy with whatever Mac you purchase. I have a 24" iMac and a 17" Mac Book Pro both running Aperture.

Here's my take on this-
- Non glossy screen
- 7200 rpm drive (This is where your OS is running from, speed on this drive matters)
- Get Aperture
- Wait the 12 days for the new O/S. Unlike MS Apple's new releases have been stable, you'll save $129 and the time to install it yourself later. (Having to do a new O/S upgrade so soon is just too PC like for my taste)
- If you want to save money the suggestion of buying less pre-installed and upgrading it yourself is a good option.
-Get a .Mac account when you purchase your computer

Congrats- You are going to love your new platform.

thank you very much.
i am sure i will be happy with any Mac computer, i was using PC for years and years even with all that problems with windows, so Mac is more stable so then i will be happy, just i will use for photos and you all know i don't do professional works with photos to get more powerful machine.

ok, let's discuss this a little:

- no glossy, sure i want matte.
- 7200rpm, ok ok even i feel that larger space for HD is better but i will keep using 160gb 7200rpm and i am sure i can handle it and find many ways to not needing more than 160gb in most cases.
- I don't use Photoshop that much but still learning with it, and many here used Lightroom, i installed it but didn't use it much either as i can't learn on any new editing software that fast, you know i am an arabic guy, and many things i can't understand without Arabic language, so i don't know with aperture which is designed for apple and i saw a brief show in an Exhibition just i found i can't learn it well enough even if it i much easier than Photoshop, and to be honest, i amazed with clarity of photos when i used that photog. club Mac pro on DPP and not photoshop, so i think i will be happy to see that clarity on DPP and finishing by photoshop, buti will check Aperture anyway.
- In fact i will wait if it is just few days say 2 weeks, otherwise i will not wait any more and buy what i look for, and to be honest and don't be so rude or mad on that, i get most of my softwares illegal, so i don't have any problem to install whatever i want myself, so if i can replace the current OS with latest myself with all careful installment steps then i will get that new OS version whenever it comes out and try to do it myself, i am not a patient guy to wait always for new things if it will take long time to come out, in addition i am a new user so whatever OS i use i should be happy but i hope that waiting will be worthy it.
- "If you want to save money the suggestion of buying less pre-installed and upgrading it yourself is a good option", i didn't understand this point, can you explain it more? i will see if i am gonna buy a new OS separated if it will not come out so soon at the end of this month.
- "Get a .Mac account when you purchase your computer", and how can i do that? any tips to do that please?

and thank you very much, your answer is so interesting and pleasing, and i hope i don't find another answers little different than yours to keep me in confusion again and again.

[RichNY]

- "If you want to save money the suggestion of buying less pre-installed and upgrading it yourself is a good option", i didn't understand this point, can you explain it more?

- "Get a .Mac account when you purchase your computer", and how can i do that? any tips to do that please?

and thank you very much, your answer is so interesting and pleasing, and i hope i don't find another answers little different than yours to keep me in confusion again and again.

Upgrading memory yourself- If you are comfortable openning your computer you will find that you can purchase memory from other sources other than Apple for less money. Upgrading your memory would require taking out the memory that comes with your computer (2) 1GB memory cards and replacing it with (2) 2GB memory cards that you would purchase elsewhere.

.Mac is online disk space and services that Apple provides for an annual fee. The key benefit of the .Mac is that it is so well integrated into the applications that ship with your new computer. For example withing your photo software you can publish your photo galleries with a single click.

Here is some more info: http://www.apple.com/dotmac/
You can get a free .Mac account for 60 days before having to purchase it.

[Raymate]

Get the 7200 rpm drive, and go for the matt HD screen. With the 4GB RAM you can not go wrong, it's the way I went :)

[Tareq]

Thank you very very much you all
I am gonna order it in few days coming soon.